Tag Archives: aircraft

Are These Globals Twins?

Within the space of a few minutes, two Bombardier Global Expresses took off from Boeing Field. This type is a regular feature at BFI so this is not unusual. What did catch my eye was that they appeared to have the same color scheme. If they were NetJets aircraft, that would make sense. However, they didn’t look like a fleet operator I know (not that I know them all). Is this just a standard scheme that Bombardier will finish the jet in if you don’t have a preference or were they connected? If so, was a group of people taking two jets at the same time to go to the same place? Who knows?

Cathay/Atlas/Polar – Whichever!

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A 747-8 freighter came in to Portland while I was at the ANG base. I could see it on FlightRadar24 before it landed, and it was listed with a Cathay Pacific flight number. I was pleased to get a Cathay jet but, when it landed, it wasn’t in Cathay Colors. Instead, it was in Polar Air Cargo colors. I figured it was a subcontract operation by Polar. However, when it taxied closer, on the side of the fuselage was the notice that it was operated by Atlas. Atlas and Polar are related so I guess this shouldn’t be such a surprise. Finding who actually operates any jet can be a bit of an exercise these days.

A Pair of T-33s, How Nice

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A previous post talked about wanting to get the Boeing T-33s after having seen one of them flying over my office. I saw that two T-33s were actually operating out of St Louis. They appeared to be operating with the Catfish 757 testbed. A couple of days later I happened to see that the two jets were operating cross country, presumably en route back from St Louis to Seattle. Sure enough, that was what they were doing.

I was able to get to Boeing Field when they were completing the return journey. The tow jets were operating about ten minutes apart. The weather wasn’t great, unfortunately. There had been some nice sun a little earlier but, by the time they arrived, the clouds had rolled in. Even so, it was good to catch both jets. One of them was operating solo but the other had someone in the backseat who seemed to spot me and watched me most of the way down the approach.

Where to Park Your 747?

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Evergreen Aerospace Museum has a couple of 747s as part of the campus. They are retired freighters from the now-defunct company that provided a lot of the backing for the museum when it was established. One of the 747s is sitting out in front of the main museum building. The other one is slightly more dramatic. It is parked on top of a water park that is next to the museum. The waterslides come from within the fuselage. Getting the plane up there must have been quite something to watch. Now it is an eye-catching way to let everyone know where the water park is.

Kenmore Rush Hour

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The floatplane activity of Kenmore Air is busy on Lake Union in Seattle. The end of the day means a lot of planes are moving from Lake Union back to the home base at Kenmore. It makes for a rush hour of planes coming back in good light. I wandered out to the pier at Log Boom Park which gives a great view of the incoming planes. Then I just waited. You know they are all going to be back before sundown so it is pretty predictable.

The inbound traffic is a combination of Otters and Beavers. De Havilland Canada’s finest show up further down the lake as they come across from Lake Union and then they head up the lake. On this occasion, the wind was from the north so they made straight in approaches, landed and continued straight in to the base. On another day I was there without a camera and the wind was a southerly. They then overflew the base and made a tight turn coming back onto the lake with the evening light on the nose. I will have to try and get that before too long!

Thai Delivery

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Before the time changed, it was possible to get some evening departures from Everett in nice light after work. I saw that a delivery flight was scheduled for a Thai 787 and a Dreamlifter was due out shortly afterwards. I figured this was a good one to go for. The Thai delivery actually slipped a bit from its scheduled time and I was more than happy for it to do so as the light was getting better and better. By the time the jet started rolling, the light couldn’t have been nicer. It was also a heavy jet and rotated not far from me so I got a great angle on the takeoff and, as it climbed away, the purple in the livery seemed to glow.

P-3s May Be Going But There Are Still Some

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A trip to Whidbey Island for me and Paul was aimed at seeing whatever we could get there on a random weekday. In truth, though, what we really wanted was P-3s. With the Orions rapidly being replaced by P-8s, they are getting harder to find and will soon be a memory. Consequently, our fingers were crossed for some of Lockheed’s aging subhunters. It turned out we were lucky.

It wasn’t a busy day for the turboprops but we did get to see a few. A departure early on meant we were pleased to have had some success. We also got arrival traffic later which certainly was pleasing. Our only disappointment was that one of the planes was operating with a rare canoe under the fuselage. We saw it in the distance (when the shots are horribly distorted by heat haze) but it was operating off a different runway from that which we were near, and we never were in the right place. However, we did get some of its buddies so a successful day out.

Bye Bye United 747s

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The disappearance of passenger 747s from service continues. Today is the last day for the United 747 fleet. I do not have anything of their earlier versions of the jet but I have seen the 747-400s in service a lot and have flown on them a couple of times too. I won’t be doing so again. A flight from San Francisco to Honolulu will repeat the first service and was sold out a long time ago. The planes have been heading to the storage yards in recent weeks and after today, there is one more to make the trip. Now the 777s and 787s will be responsible for the long-haul services.

Off to Warsaw

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If you buy a car, you go to the dealer to pick it up. If you buy an airliner, there might not be a dealer but you will still go to pick it up. After the production test flights have been completed, the customer gets to carry out their own test flights. If all squawks have been dealt with, time to pay and take the “keys”. Then a crew from the airline will fly the plane to their home base. This 787 had been handed over to LOT and the crew were flying it back to Warsaw. Delivery flights are often obvious from the takeoff roll. Fueled up for a long trip, they use a bit more of the runway than the test flights do. In a short while, this jet will be busy plying the LOT route structure.

Boeing’s Fleet of Runabouts

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While the big jets are what Boeing is known for, they have a number of other aircraft that they use for their own purposes. I haven’t got all of these by any stretch of the imagination but I have come across a few at various times. They have BBJs that they use for executive transport. They also have some Bombardier Challengers that are able to promptly get people from A to B.

If you are looking a bit more locally, there is at least one Cessna Caravan that is used for various duties. I am not sure what its role is exactly but I imagine it is a handy way of getting people around the northwest and it can probably also move parts up to a certain size if needed.

Another runabout is a Northrop T-38. This can be used for chase duties but I also suspect it is a crew hack since it seems to make regular runs between BFI and Moses Lake without crossing paths with any of the test aircraft. There are also T-33s used for chase work but, sadly, I have get close to any in action. Just a distant overflight shot. Hopefully I will see them before too long.